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GYM
RAT’S
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Maintenance
Workout |
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What are the benefits of these
sessions?
They increase your specific power generation capability. Because
you will be operating beyond your cruise pace, you’ll
be developing more CV power – useful for when you return
to easier paced efforts.
They improve your technique under fatigue. When the going gets
tough, you won’t want to fall apart technically. The more
technically efficient you are, the more energy efficient you’ll
be. So when the going gets tough as it will in the last four
or so minutes of the rowing session, it’ll be time to
focus on – in this example – leg drive, late introduction
of the arms when pulling on the oar when it passes your knees,
and a full range of movement on the slide.
They can maintain and even increase your lactate tolerance.
At a certain point during your efforts, your lactate level will
reach a point when it begins to inhibit performance. Lactate,
although always present in the body, reaches higher concentrations
the more strenuous the exercise becomes. Instead of being able
to be re-used in the energy creation cycle, lactate will spill
over and become ‘dud’ fuel. Efforts like those described
above will not only maintain general CV condition, but will
also provide the ideal workout opportunity to improve your lactate
tolerance and up its inhibiting threshold.
They increase your VO2 max. Also known as aerobic power, VO2
max is the maximum rate of oxygen uptake that your body can
utilise at high exercise intensities.
They’re a great calorie burner. They’ll burn bucket
loads of calories, both during and post exercise. Research has
indicated that high intensity training can burn in the region
of 180 calories post workout, compared to only an extra 5-10
for light workouts |
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| During
the Christmas and New Year party season, even the Rat likes
to get loose and relax a bit. Training, though of course
still important, sits on the back burner whilst rodent features
are spruced up and our Ratty gets ready to party.
But being a true Ultra-FIT creature, our resident rodent
doesn’t like to lose too much condition, so some ‘special’
workouts are called for. These are designed to both maintain
fitness and free up more of our Rodent’s valuable
time to have a good time.
After all, only a few hardened trainers – perhaps
like the hard headed
Awesome Brothers will want to train like the devil over
the party season. |
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There’s
more fun to be had – no, really – than working
out on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve
and all the days in between.
Best thing is to maintain condition as you kick back and watch
The Sound of Music for the 50th time, safe in the knowledge
that what training you’re doing will maintain your condition.
So follow the Rat’s special maintenance workouts here
and you won’t feel guilty when you eat one or two more
mince pies. |
| The rat was
well pleased with the discovery that the maintenance of
physical condition doesn’t require as much effort
as attaining a high level of fitness in the first place.
15-20 minutes of near full-out aerobic exercise can maintain
a good basis of cv fitness. We’re talking here about
sessions where the heart rate elevates to the 85-95% zone
for relatively short periods. A flat out 15-minute row would
fall into this category, as would 5¥2-minute treadmill
interval sessions with one minute recovery between efforts.
For strength, lifting once or twice a week to near maximum
can maintain a very high proportion of your ‘trained’
basic strength. Performing 3¥2 lifts @ 85% of your 1
rep maximum should do the trick.
Here, the Rat provides workouts for those training for both
aerobic and strength gains. Each session should take a little
more than 40 minutes to complete, including warm-up and
cool-down, yet both ‘Rat Specials’ will maintain
and perhaps even stimulate new levels of fitness.
You’ll note that the Rat has used ‘Rate of Perceived
Exertion’ (rpe), to provide a guide to the intensity
for the aerobic sessions at which you should work out. Use
the following guide to rate your workout effort.
0-1 Very, very light
1-2 Very light
3-4 Fairly light
5-6 Somewhat hard
7-8 Hard
8-9 Very hard
10 Very, very hard |
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WORKOUT 1
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For aerobic
fitness maintenance
For both sessions indicated, and the following weights session,
begin by performing 5-10 minutes of exercise on your chosen
piece of cv kit – rower, treadmill, elliptical –
at a gentle pace to warm up – rpe no more than 6.
Follow with five minutes of stretching. Choose stretches that
mobilise large areas of the body in one move, for example
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Lying crucifix stretch
Lie on your back on the floor, legs straight out in front,
heels on the ground. Stretch your arms out so that they are
at 90 degrees to your body. Pull your right leg up and in
and gently clasp behind the knee to pull the leg first into
your chest. And then up - by extending your lower leg - until
it is nearly as straight as it will go. Finally release the
back of the leg, rotate your leg across to the left shoulder,
whilst returning your back to the floor and turning your head
to look over your right shoulder. Your arms should be outstretched
in the crucifix position and your palms should be flat on
the floor. Try to touch your left hand with your right foot.
This exercise will stretch the hamstrings, butt, lower and
outer back, shoulders and neck. Hold to the left for 15 seconds
and then return to the starting position and repeat to the
right – 5 reps on each side. |
CV Part
The Rat gave two examples of high intensity workouts that
will maintain your condition in the opening paragraph.
Let’s take a look at them now in more detail.
A flat out 15-20 minute row
Note: you can also perform a similar workout on other
cv kit.
The idea of this session is to row as hard as you can
for 15-20 minutes at a pace that would not allow you to
continue any further. rpe 8.5-9 if you’re an intermediate
trainer (or are going partying later in the day), 9-10
if you’re curling up on the sofa. Beginners should
only train to an rpe of 7-8. For them, the effects on
maintaining and even increasing condition will not be
as great as for intermediates and advanced trainers. Nevertheless
the 15-minute or so hard effort is well worthwhile.
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WORKOUT 2
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| 3-5x2-minute
inclined treadmill interval sessions with 1 minute recovery
This session, when performed maximally by advanced trainers,
is very tough, but when it’s watered down –
either by increasing recoveries or by decreasing effort
and reps – to make it more suitable for intermediate
and beginners – can also serve as a great aerobic
fitness maintainer.
The Rat takes up the story: “After the first effort,
my heart was beating at 90% of its max, I eased back on
the belt speed and steeled my mind for the second effort.
I racked up the belt again and felt my heart beat faster
and faster. With 30 seconds to go, it was near maximum.
The few remaining seconds took minutes to pass, then it
was time to gasp for breath and recover again as the third
and final effort loomed. I knew that my vo2 level would
be around 90%, and that the burning of lactate in my legs
(and it’s not easy when you’ve got four) meant
that I would be well above my lactate threshold. And I
still I had one effort to go. I knew it would be tough,
but those six minutes of effort would be well worth it.”
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WORKOUT 3
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Gym Rat’s
one-set strength maintainer
One Christmas evening when the Rat knew no better, the staff
at the gym, began to clean up as he was doing a weights
workout. Our furry contributor had forgotten that it was
Christmas Eve and that the staff had a life and wanted to
go home to hang up their stockings. With this in mind, Ratty
spent the next few days scouring the fitness world to devise
a great session that would save on time, maintain condition,
and even increase strength all year round, not just at Crimbo.
Most weights workouts are based on performing three sets
of ten reps. But research has indicated that one set –
yes, one set – could be just as good as three, especially
for general training and strength maintenance. The key is
to set the weight you lift at a level whereby you would
fail to complete the last rep of a set of 10-12 reps with
good technique. Because of this, you’ll need a training
partner or spotter, especially if training with free weights.
You’ll end up with ‘set rep maximums’,
rather than 1-rep maximums. To progress your strength when
you can complete your single set of 10-12 reps ‘comfortably’
then it’s time to up the weight you lift on your set.
Choose your key exercises and train effectively, safe in
the knowledge that you’ll be maintaining, and maybe
even increasing your strength. |
Muscular adaptation
So why does this work? In order to promote muscular
adaptation, you have to overload the muscle. This happens
not during the easy sets, but during those sets when
you have to push out those last reps. It’s then
that you break down muscle tissue which will then regenerate
and grow stronger during recovery. The one-set approach
will provide the right conditions for muscular adaptation
to occur.
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